


A True Gentleman

by SCFrankles



Category: Mой нежно любимый детектив | My Dearly Beloved Detective (1986)
Genre: (both relationships are mentioned but are not the focus of the fic), Gen, Jane Watson/Robbie Summers - Freeform, Shirley Holmes/Jane Watson - Freeform, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:26:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22173283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SCFrankles/pseuds/SCFrankles
Summary: A possible imagining of Robbie Summers' life up to meeting Jane.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	A True Gentleman

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for quite a while, so I thought I'd finally give it a try. The fic hasn't been betaed, and I am not trans myself, so I apologise in advance if I've got anything terribly wrong.
> 
> * * *

As a small child he had been puzzled by his parents’ insistence that he pretend to be a girl. 

The frocks of his infancy were never replaced by the longed for short trousers, but instead evolved into more elaborate petticoats and dresses. And he was always addressed by a girl’s name; scolded for being too loud and rough in his behaviour. He tried to make sense of this. Perhaps he was a spy that had to be in disguise! It was a thrilling and pleasing thought. He wondered what his real name would be and when he could safely reveal himself. He could not pinpoint the exact moment when the crushing realisation came. He was no spy. His body was different from the other boys and everyone truly believed he was a girl. 

To escape his father’s anger and to ease his mother’s distress, eventually he stopped his arguments and attempted to play the part. Despite his efforts though, he was often mocked for being too masculine. As he grew, he sometimes loathed the other young men, even while he longed to be formally welcomed into their ranks. 

After he turned twenty, his mother sent him away from Cardiff to live with his aunt in London. He had considered this at first to be a simple banishment but perhaps not. Aunt Agnes understood a little and was willing to listen and understand a lot more. She helped him find suitable clothes and suitable employment, and a high quality artificial moustache to compensate for the meagre hairs on his upper lip. She also patiently participated in the long discussions to find him the perfect new name.

And now he no longer had to play a role, he felt a great deal more confident. But he remained acutely aware of the outer surface of his body—that thin layer that wedged itself uninvited between himself and his new outfits, leaving him distorted and always vulnerable to the chance that strangers might believe it was his true identity.

This fear led him to try to be the most masculine of his fellows. He even joined a gentleman’s club that wouldn’t allow a woman over the threshold—to prove to himself that he was accepted. The members were a group of fools, but fools that took him as a man.

It continued to be a gamble though that he would be seen as himself. But he was a gambler by nature. 

A love affair led quickly to an engagement but the engagement ended just as swiftly after he dared to fully explain his situation. So when he then started walking out with the charming and incisive Miss Jane Watson, he explained everything after only a week of acquaintance. And she accepted him as he was, as he had hoped she would. Though… when he was introduced to Miss Holmes, and observed Jane watching her colleague with such close attention and devotion, he worried that Jane was attracted to him because she did see something feminine in him. Or the opposite, and perhaps worse—that she liked him despite his being a man.

His insecurities led to another abrupt marriage proposal. He wasn’t surprised when Jane took time to consider his offer and then turned it down, though he was surprised to find himself so terribly disappointed. 

He took his disappointment to his club: to sit amongst his fellow fools, and drink and gamble, and put on a cheerful face. But it seemed he could not escape Jane even amongst these old bachelors. There she was on a case with Miss Holmes, and he couldn’t help but smile. Just to see Jane again and to see the two of them in their male apparel. 

He overheard Miss Holmes’ comment as she and Jane passed his table, anxiously aware that he’d recognised them. But naturally he would never have given them away. As far as he was concerned it was a delight to have them there!

However, then the club president began some nonsense, trying to find the mystery women who had dared to enter their hallowed halls. It was amusing to watch at first but not when it turned into absurd bullying, the president demanding from Jane that she confirm she was a gentleman. The man was a buffoon but Jane was so frightened and distressed, pushed into a role she hadn’t chosen or wanted to play. 

He truly couldn’t bear it. 

“Leave the young man alone.”

Jane had made her decision—he wasn’t trying to win her back. And it was a ridiculous gesture, he knew that. But perhaps a noble one too.

Miss Holmes needn’t have worried; he was indeed a real gentleman. For Jane Watson’s sake, Robbie Summers stood up and pretended to be a woman.


End file.
